Heinz Roemheld
![]()
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Heinz Roemheld (Milwaukee, May 1, 1901 – Huntington Beach, California, February 11, 1985) was an American composer.
Born Heinz Eric Roemheld in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he was one of four children of German immigrant Heinrich Roemheld and his wife Fanny Rauterberg Roemheld. Heinrich was a pharmacist, but all the members of the family were musical. Heinz's brother Edgar (1898-1964) became a conductor, while sister Irmgard (1904-1995) became a well-known Milwaukee music teacher and radio broadcaster.
Roemheld was a child prodigy who began playing the piano at the age of 4. He graduated from the Milwaukee College of Music at 19, and performed in theaters to earn money to study piano in Europe. In 1920, he went to Berlin, where he studied with Hugo Kaun, Ferruccio Busoni, and Egon Petri. While he was there, he appeared in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic.
When he returned to America, Roemheld became involved in music for silent films, both as a pianist and as a conductor. In 1925, he was sent back to Berlin as head of Universal Pictures theaters there, but had to leave in 1929 due to the rise of Nazism.
Back in America, Roemheld moved to Los Angeles and became a prominent cinema composer. He scored some scenes in Gone with the Wind, including the burning of Atlanta, although he was not credited on-screen. In 1942, he won the Academy Award for Best Original Music Score for Yankee Doodle Dandy. Among the more than 400 other films for which he composed music were Gentleman Jim, The Lady From Shanghai, The Invisible Man, and Shine On, Harvest Moon.
After World War II, Roemheld once again returned to Germany to become Chief of the Film, Theatre, and Music Section of the Information Central Division of The American Armies in Europe. He continued writing for several major film studios until the late 1950s, and after briefly working in television, he retired in 1964 to concentrate on his classical composition. He is best known for the song "Ruby" from the movie Ruby Gentry (1952), which has become a standard.
He married a former Miss Milwaukee, Emeline Defnet (1901-1980), from whom he was later divorced. They had two daughters, Mary Lou Roemheld, who was married for years to game show host Jack Narz, and Ann, who married game show host Bill Cullen.
Roemheld died on February 11, 1985, at a convalescent home in Huntington Beach after contracting pneumonia three weeks earlier.
Crew
The Invisible Man
Original Music Composer, Conductor
The Devil Is a Woman
Music
Big Brown Eyes
Additional Music
The Lady from Shanghai
Original Music Composer
Blues in the Night
Original Music Composer
Brother Orchid
Original Music Composer
The Hard Way
Original Music Composer
Chicago Calling
Original Music Composer
Station West
Original Music Composer
The Young in Heart
Original Music Composer
Earthworm Tractors
Musical
Union Station
Original Music Composer
There's Always Tomorrow
Original Music Composer
The Roaring Twenties
Original Music Composer
The Flame
Original Music Composer
The Mandarin Mystery
Original Music Composer
I, Jane Doe
Original Music Composer
Invisible Stripes
Original Music Composer
Ruby Gentry
Original Music Composer
Kid Galahad
Original Music Composer
Mr. Soft Touch
Original Music Composer
Loan Shark
Original Music Composer
Peter Ibbetson
Original Music Composer
The Strawberry Blonde
Original Music Composer
Curley
Original Music Composer
The Wagons Roll at Night
Original Music Composer
The Good Humor Man
Original Music Composer
The Monster That Challenged the World
Conductor, Original Music Composer, Music Director
The Lucky Stiff
Original Music Composer
Flight from Destiny
Original Music Composer
Murders in the Rue Morgue
Music
The Girl in the Kremlin
Music
The Tall T
Original Music Composer
Ride Lonesome
Original Music Composer
The Man Who Talked Too Much
Music
Draegerman Courage
Original Music Composer
Cross Country Cruise
Original Music Composer
Nancy Drew... Reporter
Original Music Composer
Lady with Red Hair
Original Music Composer
The Land Unknown
Original Music Composer
On Our Merry Way
Original Music Composer
My Dear Secretary
Original Music Composer
The White Angel
Original Music Composer
The Bride Comes Home
Music
Journal of a Crime
Original Music Composer
It's Love I'm After
Original Music Composer
The Golden Arrow
Original Music Composer
Satan Met a Lady
Original Music Composer
A Modern Hero
Original Music Composer
Sweet Adeline
Original Music Composer
Jack and the Beanstalk
Original Music Composer
Fashions of 1934
Original Music Composer
Housewife
Original Music Composer
The Girl from 10th Avenue
Original Music Composer
Front Page Woman
Original Music Composer
Dangerous
Original Music Composer
Men Are Such Fools
Original Music Composer
Two in a Crowd
Original Music Composer
A Lost Lady
Original Music Composer
The Case of the Black Cat
Music
The Square Jungle
Original Music Composer
West of Shanghai
Original Music Composer
The Creature Walks Among Us
Original Music Composer
Cain and Mabel
Original Music Composer
Road Gang
Original Music Composer
The Perfect Specimen
Original Music Composer
Pillars of the Sky
Original Music Composer
Decision at Sundown
Conductor, Original Music Composer
Four Frightened People
Original Music Composer
Riders of Death Valley
Original Music Composer
Desirable
Original Music Composer
The Payoff
Original Music Composer
Away All Boats
Original Music Composer
Out of the Fog
Original Music Composer
Three Smart Girls
Original Music Composer
Brother Rat and a Baby
Original Music Composer
King of the Underworld
Original Music Composer
Thieves Fall Out
Original Music Composer
A Child Is Born
Original Music Composer
The Fuller Brush Girl
Original Music Composer
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Original Music Composer
Two Against the World
Music
Law of the Tropics
Original Music Composer
The Adventurous Blonde
Music
It All Came True
Original Music Composer
Four's a Crowd
Original Music Composer
Underground
Additional Music
The Irish in Us
Original Music Composer
The Mole People
Original Music Composer
Stand-In
Original Music Composer
Tough Guy
Original Music Composer
The Voice of Bugle Ann
Original Music Composer
Dracula
Music Supervisor, Conductor
The Outer Gate
Original Music Composer
The Last Outpost
Original Music Composer
Gentleman Jim
Original Music Composer
British Agent
Original Music Composer
Easy to Love
Original Music Composer
Merry Wives of Reno
Original Music Composer
Mary Jane's Pa
Original Music Composer
Bright Lights
Original Music Composer
Maybe It's Love
Original Music Composer
I Met My Love Again
Original Music Composer, Music Director
Her Master's Voice
Original Music Composer
Mary Burns, Fugitive
Original Music Composer
Alcatraz Island
Original Music Composer
Four Hours to Kill!
Original Music Composer
Stranded
Original Music Composer
The Lives of a Bengal Lancer
Original Music Composer
Dr. Socrates
Original Music Composer
Dracula's Daughter
Original Music Composer
Postal Inspector
Original Music Composer
Enter Madame
Original Music Composer
We're in the Money
Original Music Composer
Bombay Mail
Original Music Composer
Storm Over the Andes
Original Music Composer
Janie
Original Music Composer
Love, Honor and Behave
Original Music Composer
Hands Across the Table
Original Music Composer
The Fuller Brush Man
Original Music Composer
A Slight Case of Murder
Original Music Composer
Affectionately Yours
Original Music Composer
Gold Diggers of 1937
Original Music Composer
The Story of Louis Pasteur
Original Music Composer
Gold Diggers in Paris
Original Music Composer
I Married a Doctor
Original Music Composer
I'm No Angel
Original Music Composer
Love in Bloom
Original Music Composer
Rose of the Rancho
Original Music Composer
The Male Animal
Original Music Composer
Hearts Divided
Original Music Composer
I Found Stella Parish
Original Music Composer
Secret of the Blue Room
Music
Ready for Love
Original Music Composer
Captain of the Guard
Songs
Miss Grant Takes Richmond
Original Music Composer
Four Mothers
Original Music Composer
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Music
The Big Trees
Original Music Composer
The Good Fairy
Music Director
Gold Diggers of 1935
Music
Nancy Drew… Detective
Music
A Scandal in Paris
Conductor
Insurance Investigator
Original Music Composer
The Glass Key
Original Music Composer
Make Your Own Bed
Original Music Composer
East of Java
Original Music Composer
3 Kids and a Queen
Original Music Composer
Drácula
Conductor, Music Supervisor
Private Worlds
Music, Original Music Composer
Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter
Original Music Composer
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase
Original Music Composer
Find the Blackmailer
Original Music Composer
Too Young to Know
Original Music Composer
Female on the Beach
Original Music Composer
King Kong vs. Godzilla
Music
The Girl from Manhattan
Music, Original Music Composer
The Preview Murder Mystery
Additional Music
Hell's Heroes
Original Music Composer
The Sin of Nora Moran
Original Music Composer
The Law in Her Hands
Music
The Luckiest Girl in the World
Sound
Valentino
Original Music Composer
You Can't Get Away with Murder
Original Music Composer
Kill the Umpire
Original Music Composer
Marked Woman
Original Music Composer
Father Brown, Detective
Original Music Composer
Madame du Barry
Original Music Composer
Madame Spy
Original Music Composer
